The shipping platform

Location: San Francisco is located on the W seaboard of the US in the State of California. General overview: The port is situated inside the well protected natural harbour of San Francisco Bay. See separate entries for Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, Sacramento and Stockton. Access to the berths is gained from the Pacific Ocean via passage beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for some berths. The port is equipped to handle all manner of cargoes and a regular port of call for cruise vessels, container vessels and also handling considerable amounts of general cargo and bulk cargo. A total of 35 berths with depths up to 12.2m are available for commercial traffic plus a number of fishing vessel berths. Traffic figures: Approx 1,184,000t of cargo handled and 112 vessels including 60 cruise ships visit the port annually. Load line zone: North Pacific Seasonal Tropical Area, Tropical Mar 1 to June 30 and Nov 1 to Nov 30, Summer Jul 1 to Oct 31 and Dec 1 to Feb 28/29.